The office of the African National Congress Chief Whip has called on law enforcement authorities to investigate claims that State security minister, Bongani Bongo received instructions from acting Eskom board chairman Zethembe Khoza when he allegedly offered parliamentary inquiry evidence leader Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara a bribe to collapse the investigation into state capture at Eskom.

The Sunday Times claims to have seen a sworn affidavit submitted to parliament’s top officials by Vanara. In the document, Vanara alleges that Bongo was instructed by Khoza to bribe him in a bid to derail the probe into Eskom.

Last week, DA chief whip John Steenhuisen laid corruption charges against Bongo.
Steenhuisen said the charges were related to the allegations that Bongo has allegedly offered to bribe Vanara. According to the DA alleges Bongo contravened the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

In a statement, the office of the ANC chief whip said: “We take allegations of bribery very serious and as a consequence, apart from a parliamentary investigation, we call upon law enforcement authorities to investigate this matter. We further condemn any threats made to any member of parliament or staff who are party to this inquiry and advise them to report any such threats to our police.”

“Parliament is charged with the constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight and hold the executive accountable. We must therefore never allow anybody with devious intentions to collapse a programme of parliament. We reiterate our full support for this inquiry and encourage the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises to leave no stone unturned to unearth any wrongdoing at our state-owned companies.”

The matter has since been referred to the Ethics committee. The ANC office of the chief whip said it welcomed parliament’s referral of the matter to the Ethics Committee.

“The ANC in Parliament takes serious exception to allegations of attempts to collapse this inquiry and derail the work of parliament. We welcome parliament’s referral of the matter to the Ethics Committee and trust that the committee will act with the necessary speed to thoroughly investigate these allegations.”